Greg & Betsy Aikins

United States

The Aikins will Join us in April from the 4 th to the 6, if you would like to get to know them better.

You can contact the Aikins at gregaikins(at)comcast.net (please note that in order to avoid email being added to spam lists, we've listed the Aikins email addresses above with the spelling of the @ sign; therefore when you email them, replace (at) with @). or you can reach them by mail at 665 Harleysville Pike, Telford, PA 18969, (215)723-1100. You can find more information about the organization the Aikins are ministering through by visiting www.lifequalityintl.com.

With the family raised we are now in transition for a move back to Iceland with a target date of August this year, some of our goals are as follows.

1. Continuing to direct the ministry of LifeQuality International from there, including helping to mobilize Europeans for involvement with us reaching businesspeople and professionals throughout greater Europe.

2. Betsy's using her training in cognitive therapy to help families in Iceland with members who have learning disabilities as a means of sharing Christ with them.

3. Helping envision Icelanders for church planting and healthy church development in the country.

4. Working with the start up of a Christian Family Life center, which will provide all kinds of training for family members, businesspeople, etc. as a means of outreach.

July 16 2008

Hello Dear Ones!

Once again, thank you for your prayers for us these past 6 weeks or so. We have certainly sensed them.

A few answers to prayer so you can rejoice with us…Travels and visits – Trips to speak in churches and meet with supporters in New York, Florida and Massachusetts went very well. What a blessing to be prayed for by the pastor and elders of Craigville Bible Church and to meet and connect with the new pastor of First Baptist of Pine Island, Florida.

Moving and Shipping – Your prayers were answered as we located a very helpful and trustworthy shipping company through our mission organization. God saved us from making a bad decision to go with another less reputable one. We are in the process of packing and moving our things to our LifeQuality office just down the street from our home. Our settlement date is on July 31. After some vacation, the three of us will return in time to load the container with both household and office things for shipment to Iceland on August 18^th. If you’re around here that day and would like to help, we’d welcome that! : )

Residency permits - We’ve been working with our friend Ragnar to apply for residency permits since April. It appears as though we have submitted all the necessary paper work and that we will receive the permits. However we don’t have them in hand yet, so please continue to pray. And please say a big “thank you” to the Lord for our friend Ragnar who has helped us so much.

Cars and Floppsy – we just gave Erika’s pet rabbit, Floppsy, to a new family in our Souderton church. And a friend is interested in buying / using both of our cars. These were two hurdles which we needed the Lord’s help in getting over and – praise God! – he did!

Please keep us in your prayers for the following:Goodbyes – These never get any easier. Saying farewell to family, friends here in the area and our neighbors is a painful part of this process. During these next few weeks we’ll appreciate your prayers for us as we do so.

Erika’s relocation – Our “little girl” will be starting at Washington Bible College, Lanham, MD, on August 20^th. This is a big step for her and for us! Please pray that God will help her to make the adjustment, that he will give her new friends and show her his love in ways unimaginable as she steps out in faith on this new adventure. Betsy will be hanging around for a couple of weeks after I leave just to be available in case Erika needs some extra help. But our prayer is that that help won’t be needed.

Financial support – While our outgoing funds are almost all in, we still are asking the Lord to supply additional monthly support pledges to help meet our living expenses. Greater Europe Mission is concerned that we have a solid base of regular supporters as we head back to Iceland. Pray that those whom God has touched will increase their current commitment or become a regular part of our support team.

We hope to have another update to you before I leave for Iceland on August 26^th. Thank you so much for keeping us before the Lord!

Warmly yours in Christ,Greg and Betsy

UPDATE August 19 2008

Dear ones,

So many of you have written to encourage us and ask for the latest information. Betsy and I feel overwhelmed with your heartfelt concern and are so blessed to know that you are praying for us.

We are, as of today, still waiting for a definitive answer from the Iceland immigration department. When we decided to approach them with the idea of LifeQuality - Iceland being our contracting employer. it apparently made things more complicated. Our file was turned over to the labor department and we were told we needed to pay into a social security account in Iceland in order for this to work. This however would fly in the face of the tax agreement between Iceland and the U.S. that says we are only liable to pay tax in our own country.

So we are trying another route. We’ve asked Ragnar’s church to consider being our sponsor and we would go in under their auspices as volunteers. This was not possible with LifeQuality since LQ is not registered as a religious body in Iceland. Ragnar’s pastor and the church elders are meeting this week and will discuss this. We’ve been told by another missionary that this route worked for them with another church. We have not received a definite “yes” or “no” from immigration about this idea.

So we are still in limbo – staying with some friends here in the area with all of our stuff now occupying space in my office. Grace Bible Church has graciously extended our lease free of charge so we can keep our things here for the time being. But we’re probably going to have to postpone our shipping them at least for another two weeks.

In the meantime, I’m still planning to leave for Reykjavik on the 26^th. I’m hoping that my being physically present will help expedite things. But Betsy and I don’t have peace about sending the container with our goods until we have a residency permit.

We’ll be taking Erika to Washington Bible College on Wednesday and she is both excited and a bit apprehensive about this move. One big answer to prayer for us all was that her boyfriend, David, just got a job in the D.C. area with the Federal Highway Commission. Having someone she loves close by will make the separation a bit easier for us.

I’m reminded that Christ is never late. The story of Lazarus in John 11 makes that so clear. Jesus knew he was sick and could have gone right away to heal him. But he waited so that the glory of God might be more clearly displayed. That is our hope and our prayer. That this delay fits God’s plan and will result in better things for us in the long run.

Thank you so much for praying for us during this time. We’ll let you know as so as we hear any further news.

Warmly yours in Christ,

Greg and Betsy